Year: ~1963
Company: 東京中機 (Tokyo Chuuki) & 日本遊園設備 (Japan amusement park equipment)
In the 2015-11 Amusement Journal there is an interview with 加藤イサム (Isamu Kato) which covers the founding of 日本遊園設備 (Japan amusement park equipment) in 1964. Before that company existed, he and 守屋邦芳 (Kuniyoshi Moriya) had formed 東京中機 (Tokyo Chuuki) in the late 1950s.
クレンピック (clempic) was their first machine, followed by Car-Shed - カーシェット and Hoi Hoi Test - ホイホイテスト. Then at the beginning of 1964 日本遊園設備 (Japan amusement park equipment) was founded. This means that the first versions of Car-Shed and Hoi Hoi Test were released in 1963 or earlier.
Since Clempic was probably around 1959, there is a very strong chance that Car-Shed and/or Hoi Hoi Test were released in 1960-1962. I do not have more specifics yet, so the earliest year I can be sure of is ~1963.
The game was still being sold in 1969:
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| 1969 machine directory |
There had been some updates over the years. The 1969 version has 4 tripod-style legs, a white border around the viewing window, an octagonal coin slot area instead of a circle, and the two-circles of the marquee have been replaced with 2 circles on a larger rectangle.
One thing to note is that the specifications given seems to change each time. The top one here is what I believe to be the oldest advertisement I have seen for this game:
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| 900mm wide 1000mm deep 1300mm high 90kg weight |
This next appearance is from a flyer that has the Osaka address listed, so 1966 or later. The photo on it appears almost exactly the same, perhaps taken from a slightly different angle with a slight shadow difference, but despite no substantial physical differences, the stats tell a different story.
The width has shrunk by 100mm, and the depth reduced by 250mm. The weight was reduced by 20kg.
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| 800mm wide 1300mm high 750mm deep 70kg weight |
These stats also appear this way in the 1969 machine directory, so perhaps for the 1966+ flyer they had already designed it to be more economical, but still used an original-version photograph.
For the time being, I am going to be leaving this as a single entry with both companies listed, but it should be understood that there was first a 東京中機 (Tokyo Chuuki) version and then a 日本遊園設備 (Japan amusement park equipment) version.
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